Eastern WA nuclear workers who inhaled plutonium, radioactive particles are suing

KENNEWICK – The two workers who took the brunt of contamination during a release of radioactivity in a 2021 incident within the Northwest’s only commercial nuclear power reactor have sued Energy Northwest.

The incident exposed them to plutonium, known to increase the risk of cancer, and other radionuclides.

Both suffered radiation sickness and emotional distress, according to the lawsuit initially field in King County Superior Court and then moved to federal court.

But Energy Northwest said Monday evening that the parties in the case had reached an agreement for the lawsuit to be dismissed and expected a federal judge to approve the agreement soon.

On May 28, 2021, the Columbia Generating Station near Richland was shut down for a maintenance and refueling outage that included changing out contaminated piping used to clean up contaminated reactor water.

Work was supposed to be done within a containment bag to prevent the release of contamination, but the bag failed, according to the lawsuit filed by workers Shannon “Buck” Phillips and David Holmes.

Twenty-two workers breathed in airborne radioactive material, with pipefitters Phillips and Holmes inhaling the most.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued two white findings related to the incident.

White violations, the second lowest on NRC’s four-step color scale, have low to moderate safety significance.

The findings, however, put Columbia Generating Station among three of 94 nuclear power plant sites in the United States with performance issues requiring additional inspections.

Respiratory protection had not been required for the work on the piping on the night shift of May 28, 2021, because work was required to be performed inside a containment bag.

Phillips and Holmes requested protective equipment, but were denied, according to the lawsuit.

Radiation protection lacking

A formal written plan of the piping work had been prepared, but the two pipefitters did not receive the plan.

Instead, they were told how to do the work, but their instructions did not match the written plan, the lawsuit said.

The work was to be done in a containment, or glove bag, connected to a HEPA filtered vacuum system to confine any radioactive material as work was done.

But there was no filter for the glove bag available for the night shift. Instead, Holmes and Phillips were told to use a system that had no HEPA filter.

A radiation protection technician attended a prejob briefing but was unable to get on a work platform, which was attached to scaffolding, where the work was to be done.

Another technician who had not attended the briefing was found to fill in, according to the lawsuit.

No proper radiation monitoring was verified, as required by procedures, according to the lawsuit.

After Holmes and Phillips were on the platform, the vacuum attached to the bag was turned on, and the bag immediately collapsed, according to the lawsuit.

Holmes and Phillips were unsure how to proceed, so they turned the vacuum off and removed the vacuum hose from the bag.

They removed the plug on the end of the pipe, as they had been told to do, according to the lawsuit.

The end of the pipe was exposed to air in the room, allowing radiation to contaminate the room, according to the lawsuit. In the meantime, more workers had entered the room.

Phillips and Holmes completed their work and went to the exit, where they were checked for radiation with a wand.

A lead radiation technician swore when he saw the radiation reading and changed settings to check for higher levels, the lawsuit said. The levels read off the scale at higher settings.

Work was halted and 20 other workers were evacuated, leaving through the contaminated area of the room and also becoming contaminated, according to the suit.

The Columbia Generating Station failed to follow regulatory and industry requirements for adequate testing to determine the amount of radiation Phillips and Holmes received, according to the lawsuit.

Neither were sent to a DOE Hanford site medical facility, which has testing equipment and experience to determine their internal exposure to radiation, according to the lawsuit.

Columbia Generating Station is not a DOE project, but is on leased land on the 580-square-mile site used by DOE for nuclear weapons work.

Fecal tests to show the amount of internal exposure and types of radiation were not done, according to the lawsuit.

Energy Northwest accused of negligence

Energy Northwest, owner of the nuclear power plant, conducted an investigation into the incident, but failed to interview the two pipefitters, according to the lawsuit.

Phillips raised concerns when Energy Northwest presented information that he found incomplete and inaccurate at a public meeting of the NRC.

His comments prompted the NRC to conduct further inspections and investigations.

The initial NRC white finding was related to Energy Northwest’s failure to provide adequate radiological controls for work resulting in worker exposure.

The second white finding was related to inadequate checks of workers who inhaled radioactive particles, preventing Energy Northwest from correctly assessing their internal dose of radiation.

As part of the NRC’s findings, Energy Northwest issued new radiation exposure reports at the end of 2023, confirming Phillips and Holmes had higher radioactive intake results than originally reported and that they were exposed to plutonium 238 and 239, among other radionuclides, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit accuses Energy Northwest of gross negligence.

Formed by the Washington Legislature, Energy Northwest is a consortium of 28 Washington public utility districts and municipalities.

Phillips works through the Local 598 union hall in Pasco and Homes is a member of a union in Florida.

Both were employees of Bechtel Hanford at the time of their exposures.